They beat out team Mind Your Bees and Q’s, sponsored by the R.K. Finn Ryan Road PTO and state Rep. Peter Kocot, who left a ‘g’ out of the fourth word in the final round. The Gazette team — this year made up of night editor James Pentland, reporter Barbara Solow and retired copy editor Ellie Cook — also won in 2001 and 2006.

“We studied hard, and once we got in the finals I thought, ‘It’s possible,’ ” Cook said after the victory. “And we had fun. Usually I just get nervous.”

“There were some really good teams,” Pentland said. “It was a tough competition.”

Thirty-nine teams competed in the fundraiser, which organizers estimated raised about $14,000 through the $250 team fee, raffles and other donations. The funds will go to the NEF’s Small Grants for Teachers program to support field trips and class projects in the public schools.

Eight teams made it to the semifinals, including the BFFs, which judge and Northampton High School Vice Principal Bryan Lombardi pointed out to the audience was the first team made up of high school students to ever make it that far.

“We got a call out from the vice principal, so that’s cool,” said Jacob Levitt, 17. His teammates were Avery Mencher, 18, and Jonah Hahn, 18. They were knocked out of the semifinals by the word dirndl, a kind of dress traditionally worn in Germany.

Mind Your Bees and Q’s spelled it right, and then spelled Chihuahua correctly to win that swarm of the semifinals over Amherst Cinema’s Bee Movies.

The Headliners won the second heat, but only after a 14-word streak where they and the Northampton Survival Center Hunger Buzzters matched word for word — either both spelled a word right, or both spelled it wrong. They advanced after correctly spelling arrondissement, a word for a district in some French cities.

And while there were some very serious spellers in the field, there were a lot of even sillier costumes. The winners of the costume contest, dressed as the playing card queens, were first-time competitors Queens are Wild. The team is made up of members of a neighborhood women’s poker group, Dale Melcher, Martha Hoppin and Pam Schwartz.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Melcher said of the award. She said the group gathers once a month to play poker, but studying spellings isn’t part of the get-togethers. “We weren’t going for the spelling prize.”

Runners-up for best costumes were the OlympBeeads, with members Ellie Shelburne and Denise Lello decked out as Greek gods with long white hair and beards, and Peter Shelburne dressed as a Greek goddess. The team, sponsored by the Northampton Veterinary Clinic, has won the costume contest in past years.

The winner for most humorous went to the team that wore panda costumes complete with giant heads and paws, “because it was funny to watch them try to write,” said award presenter Alexa Jarvis, 11. The Paradise Pandas, sponsored by Paradise Copies, were Jordana Starr, Elan Gregory and Paula Ponnoni.

Organizer Jeanne “Queen Bee” Hoose said the fundraising event was a great success and will provide much-needed funds for Northampton schoolteachers.